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note: because important websites are frequently "here today but gone tomorrow", the following was archived fromon January 25, 2009. This is NOT an attempt to divert readers from the aforementioned website. Indeed, the reader should only read this back-up copy if the updated original cannot be found at the original author's site.
The History/Evolution of TGD-physics
by Dr. Matti Pitkänen
Postal address:
Köydenpunojankatu 2 D 11
10940, Hanko, Finland
E-mail:
URL-address:
(former address:)
"Blog" forum:
Mark McWilliams requested some kind of summary about the development of TGD. So I decided to write an article about the history of TGD. I could not avoid telling also about turning points of my personal life since my work and life are to a high extent one-and-the-same thing.
I have tried to represent the development chronologically. But I must confess that I have forgotten precise dates so that the chronology is not exact. Very probably I have also forgotten many important ideas and many sidetracks which led nowhere. Indeed, the study of the tables of contents of books and old blog postings and "What's New" articles at my homepage forces me to wonder how I can forget something so totally.
This article should help a novice to get an overall view about the basic ideas of TGD and their evolution during these 34 years. To myself, a real surprise was to see how many deep ideas have emerged after 2005. One can really speak about a burst of new ideas. Most of them relate to the evolution of the mathematical aspects of TGD and to their physical interpretation. But the experimental input from LHC, Fermilab, and elsewhere has also played a decisive role in stimulating ideas about the interpretation of the theory.
Unavoidably the emphasis is on the latest ideas and there is, of course, the risk that some of them are not here to stay. Even during this current writing, some ideas developed into a more concrete form. A good example is the vision about what happens in quantum jump and what the unitarity of U-matrix really means; how M-matrices generalize to form Kac-Moody type algebra; and how the notion of quantum jump in Zero Energy Ontology (ZEO) reproduces the basic aspects of quantum measurement theory. Also a slight generalization of quantum arithmetics suggested itself during the preparation of thisarticle.
Evolution of TGD-physics
Dr. Matti Pitkänen
email:
January 25, 2012
Contents
1. Introduction
2. The development of the basic ideas of TGD
2.1 Prehistory: 1970-1977
2.1.1 Calculus exercises should be taken seriously
2.1.2 Graduate fiasco
2.2 Period 1977-1982: writing thesis
2.2.1 M4 x S2 period
2.2.2 Discovery of CP2
2.2.3 Long-standing interpretational problems
2.3 Period 1982-1985: could there be life after thesis?
2.4 Period 1985-1990 after the "Great Experiences"
2.5 Period 1990-1993: Quantum Physics as geometry of "World of Classical Worlds (WCW)"
2.6 Period 1993-1995 at countryside after docenship scandal: the idea about p-adic physics
3. Period 1995-2005: mostly TGD-inspired theory of Consciousness and Quantum-Biology
3.1 Core ideas of TGD-inspired theory of Consciousness
3.1.1 Quantum jump as a moment of Consciousness
3.1.2 Anatomy of quantum jump
3.1.3 The notion of self
3.2 Basic ideas of TGD-inspired Quantum-Biology
3.2.1 Basic ideas
3.2.2 Life as something in the intersection of real and p-adic worlds
3.3 Work with the Riemann hypothesis
4. Period 2005-: a burst of new ideas
4.1 Vision about physics as generalized number theory
4.1.1 Fusion of real and p-adic physics to a larger coherent structure
4.1.2 Classical number fields and TGD
4.1.3 Infinite primes and repeated second quantization of an arithmetic QFT
4.2 TGD and von Neumann algebras
4.3 Dark matter hierarchy as hierarchy of Planck constants
4.3.1 The hierarchy of Planck constants
4.3.2 Hierarchy of Planck constants and Consciousness
4.4 Zero Energy Ontology (ZEO) and its implications
4.4.1 Basic implications
4.4.2 Generalization of S-matrix
4.5 Weak form of electric magnetic duality
4.6 TGD as almost topological QFT
4.6.1 The reduction of Kähler action to 3-D integrals
4.6.2 Reduction to Chern-Simons term by the weak form of electric-magnetic duality
4.6.3 Morse, Kähler, and me
4.6.4 Could Kähler action reduce to a 2-D integral?
4.7 Twistor revolution and TGD
4.7.1 Twistor revolution
4.7.2 The impact of twistor approach on TGD
4.7.3 Could TGD circumvent the difficulties of twistor approach?
4.8 Particle physics applications
4.8.1 Does Higgs exist?
4.8.2 What about SUSY in TGD sense?
4.8.3 Is QCD really the final theory of strong interactions?
4.8.4 Other new physics predictions
References
1 - Introduction
In the following, my attempt is to summarize how various ideas about TGD have developed. I tryto represent the development chronologically. But I must confess that I have forgotten precise datesso that the chronology is not exact. Very probably I have also forgotten many important ideas and many sidetracks which led nowhere. Indeed, the study of the tables of contents of books and old blogpostings and "What's New" articles at my homepage forces me to wonder how I can forget somethingso totally.
Unavoidably the emphasis is on the latest ideas and there is, of course, the risk that some of themare not here to stay. Even during writing process some ideas developed into more concrete form. Agood example is the vision about what happens in quantum jump and what the unitarity of U-matrix really means; how M-matrices generalize to form Kac-Moody type algebra; and how the notion of quantum jump in Zero Energy Ontology (ZEO) reproduces the basic aspects of quantum measurementtheory. Also a slight generalization of quantum arithmetics suggested itself during the preparation ofthe article.
In the following I use at least the following shorthands:
ZEO for "ZEO"
WCW for "World of Classical Worlds"
NMP for "Negentropy Maximization Principle"
CD for "Causal Diamond"
GCIfor "General Coordinate Invariance"
EP for "Equivalence Principle"
HFF for Hyper-Finite Factor of type II1
QFT/CFT/TQFT for "Quantum Field Theory"/"Conformal Field Theory"/"Topological Quantum Field Theory"
SUSY for "Super-Symmetry"
SYM for "Supersymmetric Yang Mills theory"
CKM for "Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa"
LHC for "Large Hadron Collider".
2 - The development of basic ideas of TGD
In the following I try to recall the important events during the 34 years that I have used to develop Topological GeometroDynamics (TGD). I am not at all sure about the chronological orderingsand it might be a good idea to try check what has happened by looking at the rather few old publications (e.g., my thesis and books).
Because TGD has been my life purpose, I find it difficult to avoid thetemptation to tell also about turning points of my life often closely related to my work. I also decided to tell something about prehistory.
2.1 - Prehistory: 1970-1977
The time before the discovery of TGD around 1977 was a hard period in my life. My pathological shynessand social fears made my professional life very difficult. Anyone wanting to make scientific
careerhad to build up social networks already at that time. Also communication and discussion are absolutelyessential for learning.
I was in a rather bad psychological condition. An almost-schizophrenic,almost manic-depressive, and almost-paranoid suffering from panic attacks, and my social behaviorwas determined by a rich collection of neurotic rules making it very difficult to take contact withpeople. [StealthSkater note: reminds me of the extreme torments that plagued the famous mathematician George Bernhard Riemann. Fantastic calculational ability coupled with timidity and a lifelong horror of any public speaking. Painfully shy, he was the butt of cruel jokes by other boys, causing him to retreat further into the intensely private world of mathematicsdoc pdf URL-doc URL-pdf]
My relationship with my future wife (we were married 1975) was not happy and this certainlywas one of the reasons to my personal problems. [SS: more at Matti's bio at =>doc pdf URL]
2.1.1 Calculus exercises should be taken seriously
I got a position in the Department of Theoretical Physics in my 3rd student year. This wastoo early. I had to give calculus exercises. No-one had told me that it is absolutely essential to dothe little exercises before going to represent them. I had learned some kind of "live-in-this-moment"artistic philosophy during the period of my life when I had dreamed about becoming a musician andwent before the audience without having evening looked at calculus exercises. I was totally paralyzed.
The students expressed very clearly their irritation and I was deeply ashamed. I think this was oneof the events which dictated my academic fate to high degree. I can only blame myself.
In the middle of these personal problems, I was however keenly interested to read preprints aboutall kinds of theories which average colleague would have doomed to be crackpottery. I did not havepatience to learn systematically existing physics or do complex calculations (for example, absorbing Feynmandiagrams to my spine by just shutting-up and calculating). This was probably good. The experiencefrom music had taught to me that this kind of hardwiring can kill creativity. I had learned to playfrom notes mechanically and had become too lazy to memorize the pieces. But only this makesimprovisation possible.
2.1.2 Graduate fiasco
At some time I had to do graduate work. I remember that I requested the work from Claus Montonenwho is now one of the very few internationally well-known Finnish theoretical physicists (e.g., Montonen-Olive duality). He proposed that I study some mathematical problem related to stringy amplitudes (maybe it was asymptotic behavior). I soon forgot the whole thing. I did not have the requiredskills and was unable to learn from more skilled ones because of my personal social problems.
Eventually I ended to my own idea which led to a graduate work was a fiasco and would havebeen enough to put an end to my academic career if I had had such in my mind. The idea was thatvector fields generating volume preserving transformations are somehow fundamental for physics. Idid not have any conceptual understanding about elements of Riemann geometry so that I took thevolume preserving character as a purely algebraic condition. I had learned the basic formulas ofRiemann geometry at the first student year but not the concepts and I have learned that mathematicsis for the theoretical physicist just "math". Me and my teachers had been completely wrong as this fiascopainfully taught me! I realized the essence of Riemannian geometry in a very painful manner andunderstood what geometrization of Physics might really mean.
The graduate work, however, contained a couple of ideas which later made re-appearance in amathematically well-defined form. Volume preserving transformations with the special property thatthey are Beltrami flows are parametrized by 2 functions which have interpretations in terms of aposition dependent light-like propagation direction and polarization vector emerged only about 2 years ago in the proposal for what preferred extremals of Kähler action are. These transformationscould also be of decisive importance in General Relativity since volume preserving transformationsgeneralize isometries as symmetries. At the time of graduate work, I had of course heard not a singleword about Beltrami flows.
Another very dreamy visual idea was that elementary particles are like scallops in the flank of shipor some kind of holes in space-time. I remember explaining this to my roommate in the Institute of Theoretical Physics. (By the way, he was the only person besides my "finder" with whom I had courageto talk with and try to explain my misty ideas.) Particles as topological inhomogenuities was the morerefined avatar of this idea years later. For these reasons, I try to take a merciful attitude to my youth'ssins! I would be happy if colleagues would follow my example.
I spent about 5 years to a futile play with ideas whose lifetime was usually only a few months. This kind of intellectual drifting would be out of question nowadays when the academic assembly linepicks up the PhD candidates during the first student year and they must begin the specialization. In the 1970s, the hippish zeitgeist was that intelligent persons must avoid getting caught by the Establishment.
Graduation would be just this so that it must be prorogued as long as possible. I managedexcellently! I think that this drifting was, however, a period of learningbythinking rather than gettingbrainwashed by a thesis adviser. I was very excited by Finkelstein's topological ideas about Physics which were avant-garde atthat time. I found especially interesting the idea about topological explanation of spin 1/2 particles.
Already Dirac had discovered an ingenious manner to demonstrate that spin 1/2 has topologicalmeaning (orientation-entanglement relation). I am still puzzled about how Dirac discovered it. Iwrote licenciate work about this and I think this was the first work which had some promise in it. Today I would not try to topologize spin but orientation entanglement relation would be easy torealize in terms of space-time sheets.
2.2 Period 1977-1982: writing thesis
The basic idea of TGD emerged towards the end of 1977. I remember that it was at October becauseI was born on October 30. The motivation leading to the idea was the loss of Poincare invariance inGeneral Relativity. I had a very aesthetic philosophical background since I had dreamed of becoming amusician but had realized that I do not have the patience needed to endlessly polish a piece, lack theability to memorize pieces, and would have no future as a composer. Much later I understood that Ihad not realized the immense richness of colors in the emotional palette of musicians like Segovia.
This perhaps explains why esteemed aesthetics so high and the idea of replacing Poincare invarianceby General Goordinate Invariance (which is gauge invariance rather than an active symmetry towhich one can assign conservation laws using Noether's theorem) was to me totally unacceptable. Onehas of course developed an endless variety of arguments for how one might define the notion of masswithout Poincare invariance. I could not believe that Nature could accept this kind of conceptualtricks and sloppiness.
Eventually came the great day when I realized how gravitation might be described in Poincareinvariance manner. Assume that space-time is a 4-D surface in some higher-dimensional space M4xSwhere S is some compact internal space. This idea is different from that of Kaluza-Klein since thehigher-D imbedding space is not dynamical now.
I got the great idea in October 1977 and soon went to talk with the boss of the Institute ofTheoretical Physics. I was told that I would deserve a research position in The Department of TheoreticalPhysics. I still wonder how did I have the courage to do this! These years have conditioned me sopainfully that I cannot even think of approaching a professor!
Within a week-or-two, I was thrown out ofmy job. He and probably all others regarded me as a totally madman. Later he became later one of myworst enemies taking a good care that I got no research position anywhere in Finland. My luck wasthat I got a kind of unemployment work in the Technical University in Otaniemi allowing me to workquite freely with what I decided to become my thesis work. Nowadays this kind of academic freedomcannot be imagined. I am deeply grateful for the personnel of this lab for tolerating my presence.
Those years were a very happy in my life. I remember of waking up around 5:00a clock and going bybus to Otaniemi and returning around midnight. It was physically hard. At some time my weight wasbetween 50 and 60 kg! But I really enjoyed the feeling that community regards my work so valuablethat it supports it in this manner.
2.2.1 - M4 xS2 period
The problem was to fix the choice of the compact internal space S. My original choice for S was ofcourse the simplest possible option that one can imagine: S = S2.
I began by studying proposals for classical dynamics replacing Einstein's equations. My ingeniouslooking first guess was that curvature scalar for the induced metric determines the dynamics. The field equations stated the conservation of energy momentum and generalized Einstein's equations andallow to have Poincare invariant gravity. I was really disappointed as it turned out that this optiondoes not work.
For instance, I got as solutions of field equations string like objects with negative string tension. I however discovered the generalization of space-time concept. It turned out that one obtains for anygeneral coordinate invariant action certain basic solutions and many of them havefinite size as 3-surfaces. This and the experience with string models led to the idea that particles correspond to space-timesurfaces with finite spatial size (i.e.,quanta of space-time). Also the idea of topological condensation emerged.
Physical particles are obtained by gluing these free particles to a larger background space-timeby topological sum operation (simple touching). This was actually a new formulation for thefunny idea that appeared in my graduate pancake as I realized much later.
I do not remember whether I discovered induction of spinor structure meaning also the inductionof the spinor connection of S2 to space-time surface. If I did this at this period, my interpretationwould have probably been that that the resulting U(1) gauge invariance could correspond toelectromagnetism. Neither do I remember whether I asked already at this period how to get quarks and quark color.
At some time, I however made this question my proposal for the answer was inspired by the study of thesimple solutions of field equations and was that quarks carry magnetic charge (or homological chargemeaning that quark like space-time surface has CP2 projection containing a sphere, which cannot be contracted to a point). The magnetic charges 2,-1,-1 would correspond to color hyper charge2/3,-1/3,-1/3 for quarks, and their sum would vanish so that baryons would be magnetic tripoles. Icould have assigned color isospin might have been assigned to the 6-D spinors of M4xS2 as S2 spin.
In any case, the homologization of color charge failed only two years ago. I learned that it mightwell be that color hyper-charge correlates with the Kähler magnetic charge in the proposed mannerand that baryons could indeed be magnetic tripoles.